Seems like it might become the cult car BMW was hoping for... just you wait.









It is now obvious that this car is not for everyone. But I think it may be for me...

This is not a car for me but the upcoming 135tii is

I think it is interesting that BMW now build cars on which the enthusiasts will have to do some of the work themselves - just like japanese car makers have done since the beginning of time.

Online review:









In an age when children can’t play conkers without protective specs and no one dares eat anything that’s out of date, it’s reassuring that BMW is still brave enough to put triple tons of both horsepower and torque into the smallest car it produces. This is the 135i M Sport, the top player in the all-new 1-series Coupe range. Based on exactly the same platform as the three- and five-door 1-series variants, the Coupe is designed to appeal to the buyer who puts panache ahead of practicality. (Just ignore the fact that the Coupe actually has a slightly larger boot…)

Most of the 3500 sales per annum that BMW is expecting for the 1-series Coupe will be made up of the 120d and the numerically pleasing 123d (which has a new 2-litre twin-turbo diesel putting out 201bhp and 295lb ft), but the 135i is the car that will make the headlines. It has the same 3-litre twin-turbo straight-six that we first saw in the 3-series a year ago, except that it now also has the gong of International Engine of the Year to hang round its cylinder heads.

The six-cylinder produces the same 295lb ft of torque as the V8 in the M3, but while the M-car peaks at 3900rpm, the 135i maintains maximum torque from 1300 to 5000rpm. Combined with a 100kg weight advantage, it’s not surprising that the 135i’s 0-62mph time of 5.3sec is just half a second behind the M3’s. BMW’s 4th-gear 50-75mph figures show the 135i closer still, with a time of 5.0sec to the M3’s 4.9. A basic price of £29,745 doesn’t exactly make the 135i a champion of the proletariat, but ‘The People’s M3’ has a nice ring to it nonetheless.

Whether it’s an attractive car or not seems to depend on which angle you view it from. The main thing is that it looks small and compact (although BMW would probably rather I didn’t use that last word) and feels the same from inside. You get the impression that it will fit neatly down a narrow road without your passengers breathing in nervously all the time. Despite this, legroom in the back is perfectly adult-usable.

On the road, the 135i certainly delivers on its pocket-rocket spec sheet. You never feel any lag from the two turbos and there is power available right through the wonderfully smooth rev range. The 135i is a seriously quick car. Quicker than a Cayman S? It certainly feels it.

There’s a smidgen too much padding in the driver’s seat and steering-wheel rim to make you feel instantly in touch with the road, but the chunky little gearshift has no slack at all and is great whatever your speed. And then there are the brakes. Finally BMW has provided a car with decent brakes, the 135i being armed with strong and lovely looking six-piston callipers at the front.

Turn into a corner and the first thing you notice is the grip. In the dry it has the tenacity of a cat clinging to soft furnishings. You keep pushing harder and harder but nothing seems to unseat the 18in wheels from their chosen trajectory. It’s the front that will eventually let go first, and this, combined with steering that doesn’t feel quite as precise or reassuring as you’d like, can make it difficult to commit on the entry to a bend.

If you do manage to unsettle the tail then new electronic trickery will act like a limited-slip diff and prevent the 135i from just spinning-up an inside wheel. It works well, but the rear will be fighting hard to regain grip all the time it’s sliding, and in the dry there’s more grip than power. Not an oversteer hero then, unless it’s wet…

The ride is stiff but well damped, and there isn’t the bounce at the rear end that has blighted so many recent BMWs. However, the wheel control can get vague if you hit a bump mid-corner, unsettling the car disconcertingly.

The 135i isn’t quite the hooligan threat to the health and safety lobby that we might have secretly hoped for, but its diminutive size and shear pace mean it is a huge amount of fun. Especially if you’re sitting next to a Cayman at the traffic lights.


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